conviction. "In Algeria they had no identity, no roots. They
were always conquered. But Moroccans have always kept
their dignity and their respect, so we are not obsessed by reli
gion. That's why nobody can come from Afghanistan and tell
us, 'This is the way to be Muslims.' We say, 'Thank you. We
already know this.' "
Still, King Hassan is keenly aware of the potentially perilous
conjunction of economics, politics, and religion. When he
came to the throne 35 years ago, he made several decisions that
were dramatically at odds with other North African countries.
"First, he organized the country through a market economy,"
Andre Azoulay, the king's economic and financial adviser
(and a Jew), explained to me one day. "It wasn't easy as a
Third World country to resist the temptation of that moment.
He risked being treated like a traitor by other countries,
because you were supposed to follow socialism and Marxism.
The people who thought that socialism was the only way out
were deeply angry; now their countries are in total failure."
Azoulay, a slight, courtly man, paused and gazed at me with
pensive eyes. Then, in his careful but correct English, he con
tinued: "The second choice was that King Hassan resisted the
single-party system that other Third World countries adopted.
In fact, it is forbidden by the constitution to have only one par
ty. And, finally, he decided that the Western countries were
the true allies of Morocco, and not the U.S.S.R., Cuba, and
Vietnam. If the king had made other choices, where would
Morocco be today?"
Could fundamentalists become a true political power?
"No," forcefully replied a businessman in Marrakech. "They
could never supplant the king, who is the leader of the Mus
lims. The imams pray in the name of the king. No religious
group dares to say, 'We will supplant the power of the king.' "
"Given its resources, human and natural, Morocco should
be able to do fine," Ghassan Musallam, the banker, told me.
"It's a matter of how to put things together."
Morocco wants closer ties with Europe. Although a third of
its foreign trade is still with France and Spain, reshuffled trade agreements
among European Union countries have weakened or even canceled many of
the traditional arrangements. In response Morocco audaciously applied in
1984-but was rejected-for membership in the European Community. Yet
its cheap labor force and proximity to Europe make it almost inevitable that
Morocco will someday position itself in regard to Europe along the lines of
Mexico's relationship with the United States. The numbers of automobile
assembly plants and garment factories in Morocco are increasing. Once fanci
ful talk of a bridge across the Strait of Gibraltar has now shifted to more serious
discussion of a tunnel. It is toward the West, more than Arabia or Africa, that
Morocco continues to look.
SWAS SITTING one morning at the Palmiers du Sud cafe in Casablanca, drink
ing cafe au lait and munching a chocolate brioche as businessmen read the
morning papers in French and Arabic. From somewhere overhead wafted
the undeniable strains of "As Time Goes By," a truly romantic touch, even
though it was probably playing at the same moment in an empty elevator
in Omaha.
By now I had become accustomed to this sort of contradiction. Televisions
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